If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Accidental Young Wizard Deaths?

If this is in the wrong place, just let me know and I'll move it. Thanks!

This is probably virtually impossible to figure out, but I've written myself into a corner and the way I have things planned out, I've GOT to get myself out of this mess somehow.

Basically, I can't figure out how to kill off my main character's father. I don't want to say a lot about the plot because I'd rather not ruin it for anyone, but hopefully someone can come up with something from what I give you. The character who dies (and it is absolutely essential that he dies) is very young, specifically age 24. It can't be murder or suicide, because that simply doesn't fit with the rest of the plot or his character.

In short, I'm thinking of Muggle hereditary diseases like diabetes or heart disease, about how they can sometimes take one by surprise. I was wondering if there could be such a thing as a wizarding disease that could creep up on someone, go undiagnosed for years until it actually kills them. But this character is, again, very young, and a Healer in training. I need him to die quietly in his own home. A freak accident would be too random and too coincidential for the rest of the plot. So... I'm really leaning toward some sort of hereditary disease, which I could actually work into other parts of the story.

Hmm, Dragonpox? Scrofungulus? Vanishing sickness? Umbridge-itis? Maybe you can have something like cancer or something? I looked at HP Lexicon and couldn't find anything solid, sorry! Maybe you could make something up?

Is it important that a specific disease be listed, or is it possible to just say he was sick? Magic is better at healing diseases, which explains why wizards have longer life spans, but they are not completely immune to everything. There are some diseases that only wizards can get, but I think they could also get most Muggle diseases. I would assume that muggle diseases are generably curable and wizard diseases are generally more severe, but a muggle disease is defenitely a possibility. But I still don't see how it's necessary to say what exactly he died of. If it's one of those things that creeps up on you, he might not have even known. I would just say that he was sick.

Diabetes and Heart disease tend to take a little while to result in death and while it might occur in someone that young, it usually doesn't. If you are in need of a sudden, unexpected death, you could have him die of a congenital heart defect that was never diagnosed, something similar to the horrible things that happen to young, seemingly very healthy people such as athletes. There have been a number of reports of athletes who just collapse after a practice or game. They seem to be the picture of health, but they have heart defects that don't show symptoms until they kill.

It is the sort of thing I'd think a Healer in the wizarding world would be able to correct, but only if they knew it was there. Same with a weak blood vessel in the brain, resulting in stroke.

I think I'll probably go with some sort of congenital heart defect, though I'll make it a "magical" version. I suppose it'll sort of be the same type of thing from which Muggles suffer, except that it only runs in wizarding families and can only be treated by magical remedies. And perhaps it is more common in pure-bloods, since all that runs through their veins is magical blood. It can be similar but not connected to Muggle heart diseases, so that the more Muggle blood you have in you, the smaller the chance is that you'll have the magical heart disease. (Although if your Muggle relatives have a history of heart failure, then I guess you're out of luck.)

That can actually tie in nicely with something else I have going on in my story. Hopefully it's realistic enough... I'll leave this open for any more ideas, just in case.

But what if... what if what if, there was a magical disease that turns your magic on you? There are muggle diseases that basically turn your immune system on you, and you never know it. You think, wow, I've never had motion sickness before, but whatever. And maybe, as his magic is turning on his body, it is draining his energy, eventually making his heart fail. The only side effects would be messed up magic, like, spells that he could normally do would be really tough on him (muggle version "Wow, I've never had motion sickness before"). Of course, he wouldn't think anything of it. He'd blame it on the stress of his healer training. What do you think? It could be genetic.

Yeah, I totally just spent to months in Pre AP Bio learning about genetic diseases, so.

Mieosis creates the gametes in a human (Egg/sperm). Meiosis starts with a Diploid cell, which is what you basically are made up of (You hair skin ect.). Diploid cells have 46 chromosones. Through meiosis, that cell doubles itself, then, each of those cells split in half. You end up with about 4 Haploid cells, which have only half the chromosones, These become the gamets. Now, one 23 chromosoned gamete meets up with another after a couple of tequilas, and BAM, you have a nice little 46 chromosoned diploid cell that grows into a screaming child. Yay!
Now, genetic defects occur when these chromosones aren't split correctly. This usually happens when the cell first splits itself. A Chromosone will double, and you will have two of the exact same chromosone. Now, one chromosone will go all the way to one side of the cell, while the other will go to the complete opposite side of the cell. The cell will then split right down the middle, making two identical cells. BUT, sometimes, the chromosones decide they like eachothers company and both go to the same side. Yikes. That is where the genetic defects occur.

So, lets say that your character wasn't even a fetus yet when his mom's magic genes decided they liked eachothers company. Now, he has an extra magic gene. So, maybe, this could be why his magic is being overused in his body, and over stressing it. And this leads to heart failure. He could have just been sitting at home when his heart stopped, and he was gone.

I hope I made sense. I tend to ramble and my train of thought goes everywhere. So, if this made no sense... then I appologize for the waste of thread space. =/

I think that idea is brilliant. I'm definitely going to use it. That's very creative! I'll give you credit, to be sure.

Thank you so much! I think I've found what I was looking for, so... Mods... You can lock and grave.

EDIT: Never mind, I have another question! Does anyone know the roundabout age a wizard/witch starts showing signs of magic? For some reason, the number 8 keeps floating around my head, but I'm not exactly sure. In fact, can't little spurts of accidental magic happen to children over a long span of time? Correct me if I'm wrong.